Aussie Finch Forum

Tiaris wrote:How far north are you Arthur (roughly)?

I'd say about 9hrs north of Brissie......

No activity for last few days . .

Things may have gone pear-shaped

Hen is back in attendance at nest, and would say that she has started to lay

About 6 weeks after beginning of nest construction

Long delay between nest completion and egg laying may be to convince predators that the nest is abandoned(?)

Certainly had me fooled

They regularly nest around the place but I have never really paid much attention to the timing of things

Frequent comings and goings indicate chicks???

Will try for a new photo

Looks like an unhappy conclusion . .

No sign of hen at nest for about 3 days and no sign of the pair round their favourite source of nectar

Here is an occupied nest at my Aunts in Port Douglas....

Well she is one up on me, as my nest is definitely 'cactus'

And as I said before the parent birds are also missing in action

Will check the nest tomorrow for eggs or dead young

hope all those scaly predators you get weren't responsible Arthur.

an aside....are you anywhere near ayr ?
just had friends stay for the country music festival, they live on the Burdekin as sugarcane farmers.
the stories they told of crimson finches in the cane were amazing. when they burn/harvest they go in all directions in their dozens.
when I informed that they go for $200+ per pair they were considering diversifying there income stream for a while....

Nest completely empty

Plenty of snakes about, looking for water in this hot dry weather

A snake may have taken the parents at the flowering bush that they favour, but the weight of a snake would have pulled the nest down (protection for the sitting hen?)

My prime suspects are geckoes. Others have said that these little !@#$ will not take baby birds but I am 99% sure that they can and do take newly hatched chicks of finch sized birds

As VP's pic shows the sitting hen will not flush at night, but she vacates the nest pretty quickly during the day, allowing the geckoes to do their dirtywork

Sunbirds back & started building 2 days ago at same site

Bit earlier this year

Won't post any pix till (hopefully) she starts incubating